AN:Still looking for a beta and who can guess Neville's teacher is.

Chapter 3:Kindling The Flames

After talking with Dumbledore for a few more minute Harry left in search of the library to find information about elementals. First he talked to the librarian and then she pointed him to a small section of books and Harry picked out, The Fire Inside Man, and Building The Flames: A Guide To Novice Fire Elementals. He sat down at a large table near the back and opened up The Fire Inside Man.

Fire is an amazing thing. It can build and destroy. The ability to wield fire is one of the most powerful ability of all the affinities but significantly harder to control than any other. It chaotic and volatile. It eats all it can and never gets full. You never fully control fire just steer it away from you and manipulate it for a purpose. Unlike water, earth, and air fire does not disappear when you lose control. It stays alive. This is why experimenting with any type of fire is usually done in environments with a large amount of water around or multiple enchantments protecting the caster. There are three tiers of mastery associated with fire, novice , pyromancer, and pyromeister.

A novice class is the easiest to obtain and almost any magic user can achieve it without having much of an affinity in it. Novice spells mainly are made up of simple flame conjurations and have no purpose besides their assigned task. An example of this is the bluebell flames charm. It produces a ball of blue flames that doesn't produce heat only light.

Normal witch and wizards cannot continue onto being a pyromancer. The distinction between the two levels is that it requires the caster to be able to manipulate a flame that there wand did not produce. The reason for this is that true flame spells do not have incantations or wand movements but just the casters will over a flame. Fire produced from a wand is contaminated and resistant to an outside will. This resistance causes people not with a strong affinity to be incapable of casting second tier spells. Also you cannot manipulate more fire that is already there. Technically there are no 'spells' from this tier and beyond. Only methods used to manipulate the energy that fire contains.

The last and final tier is pyromeister. Pyromeisters are the masters of the craft to the fullest extent. This entails that they not only can shape fire with their will but create it without any other source but themselves. While the jump in skill level might not seem very large to an observer in reality the significant of being able to create fire is very large. It is a plateau that only a few pyromancers ever learn to ascend. It takes decades of practice and research to become a meister.

Harry's reading was disturbed when he heard a chair being pulled out from the other side of the table. He looked up to see Neville sitting down in a chair. "Hey Harry how is Hufflepuff working out for you?"

"It's good, well Zack's kinda a prat but everybody else if pretty friendly. How about Ravenclaw? Cedric told me that your head of house was some dueling master or something."

Neville got a grin on his face,"Yeah Flitwick's really cool, he showed my a charm to silence things because Anthoney snores really loud. Did you go to the scrying ceremony yet?"

"Yeah that's actually why I'm here actually I wanted to know more about it you know."

"That's really weird, that's what I'm doing to. What did you end up being? Turns out I'm an earth elemental bet you can't top that."

Harry smirked,"Oh yeah well we'll see who's the better elemental. We all know fires cooler than dirt."

Neville leaned in," And we all know earthquakes are more awesome than forest fires".

"Yeah well Phoenixes are better than flobberworms."

"Golems."

"Dragons."

Before the competition could continue anymore madam Price walked over to their table,"If your not being quite leave now". Even her stern words couldn't wipe the grin off of there faces.

NEXT DAY

The first class the first year Hufflepuffs had was Transfiguration and it was shared with the Slytherins. The class opened with a speech, "Throughout the next few days each student will be judged on how well they function in each course. Afterwards you will be put in one of three course levels for each subject. Through hard work you can be moved up to a higher level and likewise if your grades drop you will be dropped down to a lower level. Now Transfiguration is one of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned"

"Now the most important part of transfiguration is intention. Picture the object in your mind, every small detail crisp and clear. Once you can picture it clearly now move onto the thing you wish to transfigure it into. Repeat the process over and over and when you can do it quickly without any hiccups say the incantation and follow the wand movements".

With a swish of her wand small bars of silver appeared on all of the first years desk's,"Your goal by the end of class is to be able to transfigure this metal bar into a needle. The incantation is Mutare Figura and the wand movement is a small jab towards the object. If you require any help please call out."

Looking down at the silver bar Harry flicked his hand so his wand would jump out of the wrist holster into his hand. "Blimey mate why didn't you just take the whole branch", said Justin. Harry turned around to his deskmate and looked at his wand. Justin's wand had to be about nine inches or so. Now that Harry thought about it the only people he had ever seen with wands as large as him was Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"They wouldn't let me take the whole tree so I had to compromise". Justine laughed and looked down at his own silver bar. Harry shook his head and went back to the task at hand. He picked up the bar and rolled it around in his hand absorbing any fact about it he could. The weight, dimensions, the way the edges were at a perfect right angle, and how the sides were absolutely smooth to his touch.

Closing his eyes Harry tried to remember each detail as much as he could, mulling it over in his head filling in any gaps that he missed. Now Harry moved onto visualizing the needle. The smooth arch of the metal all culminating into one sharp point, and the small eyelet on the other end. He said the incantation over and over in his mind, memorizing how the syllables ebbed and flowed. Finally he opened his eyes and pointed his wand at the bar, "Mutare Figura".

Suddenly a warm feeling extended from his chest flowing through his arm into his wand...and nothing happened. Looking around almost all the class had already completed the task. Not wanting to be the only one incapable of doing a simple spell Harry thought he'd attempt something new.

Harry tried to somehow push more warmth into his wand. The experience could be best described as a mental damn opening up piece by piece. Soon the silver started changing shape. But as soon as it started changing it finished. The warmth was still there but it seemed like it had no effect on the spell. Harry tried to restrict the flow of power more and for a second it went back on. But once again the spell stopped. It seemed that there was only a small window for the it to work.

Collecting himself Harry tried it again. But no matter what he did Harry always either put to much or to little power into it. From his past two attempts the bar was almost fully transformed, all that was left was the eyelet on the end. It seemed that the less transfiguration he had left the wider the spell window was. Saying the incantation once again Harry concentrated on the amount of power he was putting behind it. No matter what he did it always felt like the energy was slowly bleeding over. And if he lowered it to fast then it would degrade rapidly. Finally he concentrated very hard and as soon as it would rise to high he would lower it and when it went to low raise it.

Success.

Finally laying on his desk was a perfect silver needle. "Harry you alright?". That's when Harry realised he was covered in sweat. And he felt like he had just ran a mile. "Yeah I'm fine just give me a minute."

McGonagall walked over to Harry and waved her wand at him. Instantly all of his sweat vanished. She picked up his needle and inspected it,"Ten points to Hufflepuff for effort".

Right after Transfiguration the Hufflepuffs had Defence Against The Dark Arts with the Gryffindors. As soon as everybody had sat down professor Moody walked out from behind his desk. His face looked like it had been carved by a child, bits and piece were missing and scars took their place. The right side of his face had a large vertical scar on it and he only had tuffs of ginger hair left on his scalp. Substituting his right eye was a round smooth stone with small glowing runes on it spinning in place. And while one of his feet was covered in a combat boot the other looked like a leg take off of a statue. It was pure black with golden lines criss-crossing the sides.

Moody caught Harry looking at his stone prosthetics but instead of looking angry he grinned. Like to him it was a sign of pride that he was able to make such well working limbs from just stone and magic. Moody turned towards the class, "Now the easiest way to avoid a spell is to not be there when it hits. When that is not an option the best thing to do is make shield. Now there are many types of shields and even more attacks. Unless you use the correct shield a spell will go right through it and sometimes even make it stronger. The most basic shield charm's incantation is Projecto, it has no wand movement and will create a dome covering your front. Beware that it will leave your back open though. So practice the incantation a few time and when you feel confident in your ability to create a shield please form a line. One by one I will test your shields."

Harry took out his wand and prepared to attempt the spell," Projecto". Suddenly a cloudy grey dome appeared in front of Harry. Unlike the spell in transfiguration this spell didn't feel like it had a window. When he put more or less power in the spell it just became more solid or opaque .Once he lowered the spell and the beaver faced girl who sat to his left gasped and said,"How did you do that I can't even get a wisp".

Turning to her Harry said I don't know i just try to visualize it in front of me and say the incantation." The girl looked frustrated with his answer and stared at her wand angrily and kept trying to cast it. Not wanting to be caught in her hissy fit Harry walked up to the slowly growing line at the front of the class.

The first person to be tested was a tall ginger boy who practically screamed the incantation. Moody then sent out a small green bolt from his wand. It splashed onto the boys shield and stuck to the grey mist. Slowly the green became more vibrant and the mist thinned out. After a minute or so it disappeared entirely.

It did not take long for the small group in front of Harry to fade away until it was only him left. Gripping his wand ," Projecto ". After his shield was up for a few seconds Moody cast the weird green spell. As soon as the spell hit his shield Harry felt a difference. It was as if the green sludge was sucking up the power that he was putting into it.

Soon enough the thick grey mist that he had before was getting thinner and thinner. Harry started pumping more and more power into it. Moody seemed surprised from Harry's shield going back to its original color and laughed loudly,"Hahaha thats what i'm talking about. Now how long can you keep it up Potter".

Suddenly the drain increased and Harry had to constantly put more power into the shield to fend off the sludge. Moody grinned and increased the grain once again. Harry's knees buckled for a second and he had to start pumping even more power than before. To prepare for Moody upping the resistance again he pushed for more power. But pumping more power into the shield wasn't as easy before. At the start the power it was like the power was just waiting to be used , but now he had to force the power to flow faster into his hand.

Suddenly the shield's color slowly started changing color, from grey, to raspberry, and finally to a scarlet red. But then the power started fading no matter how hard Harry pushed. Slowly it went back to gray and eventually disappeared entirely. Harry had to lean himself against the a nearby desk. He felt even more exhausted than he did in Transfiguration. Moody cackled,"That's what I'm talking about!"

After eating a massive dinner Harry made his way to Dumbledore's office. Each monday after dinner students would go to their instructions for lessons on their affinity. Standing in front of a giant gargoyle he said, "jelly belly". Suddenly the statue twisted and a stairway appeared. As soon as he stepped on the steps the automatically winded upward bringing him to a large blue door. Harry opened the door to see an odd sight.

Dumbledore was trying to solve a rubiks cube, and a featherless chicken was making a roost for itself in Dumbledore's beard. At the sound of the door opening Dumbledore looked up,"Ah it's great to see you Harry, please sit down. Now have you looked up any spells yet?"

Trying to get comfortable in the flamingo pink chair Harry said,"Well I read a lot about the distinction between masteries and i started working with the incendio charm. But the hottest I've been able to get it is till the flames turned blue".

Dumbledore nodded, "That's very good Harry now please tell me how you increased the temperature."

"Well I just pushed more power into the spell".

Dumbledore set his rubiks cube down, " You see Harry picture a spell is like a river. It can flow faster than normal but if there is to much water it will overflow."

Harry was puzzled, "Then how do make the river move faster without it overflowing".

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, " I want you to use the process of elimination Harry what do you think you should do?"

"Well it can't be anything after the wand because the fire would already be contaminated so it has to be before that point. Which mean that it's a different way of delivering power before it leaves your wand?"

Dumbledore nodded, "That is exactly what you want to do. There are numerous methods to accomplish this but the simplest method is called compression. Think of it like a hole in a dam wall. You want a lot of pressure on one side but only a small hole for it to travel through. So you want to stop the power before it reaches your wand and build it up at one point. Then instead of trying to pull power from your reserves, pull it from that point instead. Oh and don't worry about setting anything on fire in here I have numerous enhancements to protecting things from catching fire. Give it a shot."

Making sure his wand was pointing away from Dumbledore Harry said," Incendio". Instantly a red flame appeared on the end of Harry's wand. Taking a second to concentrate Harry tried to mimic what Dumbledore told him to do. He pushed a lot of power into the spell but stopped everything but a small portion to keep the flame alive. He put more power into it to increase the pressure and slightly closed the small opening for it to flow through. For a second the flame turned to a pristine white, throwing off so much heat that he could feel that warmth on his face. But then the damn that Harry constructed broke from the stress he was trying to put it under.

Over the next hour Dumbledore gave Harry instructions on how to construct a dam and by the end he could hold it up for a minute or two. Dumbledore stood up, "I think that's enough for one night Harry. Once you're able to compress your magic for a least an hour I think you'll be ready to move above novice level spells. Now before we leave I need to give you a few things." Dumbledore pulled a large box from his pocket and gave it to Harry.

"Sir you don't need to give me anything."

Before Harry could say object again Dumbledore cut him off, "Nonsense Harry just accept it".

After opening the lid Harry found a pile of dark red fabric. After taking it out of the box he found that it was actually a very thick trench coat (think the ones from the organization in kingdom hearts) with a large zipper going down the middle and a wide pocket on each side. When he touched the fabric he felt a dull warmth. At his questioning look Dumbledore said, "It's enchanted to protect you against fire, so if you have any accidents you're safe. Also it will instantly resize to your shape so you can always were it."

Harry tried it on, "Sir this is an amazing gift, thank you so much sir."

Dumbledore waved his hand, "It's fine Harry, and you might want to check the pockets." Harry felt a small metallic box in the right pocket after pulling it out he saw that it was a zippo. "In your father's seventh year he experienced with muggle cigarettes. professor McGonagall caught him smoking one day and confiscated his lighter. I thought you might appreciate it, and when we move onto pyromancy you can use it as a flame source."

With tears in his eyes Harry flipped the lighter over in his hands. On the other side there was engraved latin script. Harry ran his thumb over the indents, "Ignis omnes emundat?"

"Fire cleanses all".